London may lose £220m in NHS funding shake-up

London could lose £220 million of annual NHS funding under plans to end the practice of targeting cash at deprived areas.

New rules being considered by NHS England would remove a “deprivation weighting” and direct money to areas with more elderly people.

This would discriminate against areas with younger, poorer populations such as Camden, Islington and Brent.

Six of the 10 hardest-hit boroughs are in London. The worst hit would be the West London clinical commissioning group, which pays for hospital and community care for patients in Kensington and Chelsea, Queen’s Park and Paddington. It faces a 27 per cent cut in its annual budget, down £394 per patient to £1,067. Camden would lose £293 per patient, Westminster £275, Brent £162, Islington £151 and Hammersmith and Fulham £147.

Across London there would be an average £25-a-year loss per patient, though some areas, such as Bromley, Croydon and Hounslow stand to

benefit. The changes have been recommended by an independent advisory committee which bases its calculations on the number of patients registered at each GP surgery.

A spokeswoman for NHS England (London) said: “NHS England has a legal duty to ensure that patients have equal access to services and to address health inequalities. No decisions have or will be made until the end of the year.”